After playing seven of their first 10 games on the road, the Seattle Kraken are ready for some home cooking.
The Kraken will have eight home games in November, starting with Thursday night’s matchup against the Nashville Predators.
The Kraken just completed a four-game trip against the Detroit Red Wings, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning in which they went 2-1-1, with both victories coming in overtime. Jared McCann scored a power-play goal 2:53 into the extra session, his team-leading fifth marker of the season, in a 4-3 victory Monday against the Lightning, whom the Kraken had not beaten in four previous tries.
“(The win) makes a six-hour plane ride a lot easier, for sure,” McCann said. “I thought we played awesome on this road trip, but it’s over now. We’ve got to focus on the next game.”
Brian Dumoulin, Yanni Gourde and Kailer Yamamoto tallied in the first period for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves for his first win in five decisions.
“It’s never going to come easy in this league,” said Gourde, who scored against his former team. “Winning is really hard. You’ve just got to bear down and play through the full 60 minutes to make sure you get those two points.”
Yamamoto, a native of Spokane, Wash., also had an assist to match his point total from the first nine games.
“I thought this was his best game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “He had a ton of energy. … He was involved in every part of the game. He had the puck on a string, and he was making plays throughout the entire hockey game. It was nice to see him get rewarded with a power-play goal.”
The Predators opened a five-game trip with a 5-2 loss Tuesday at Vancouver, as Elias Pettersson netted a hat trick for the Canucks.
Colton Sissons and Dante Fabbro scored for Nashville and goaltender Kevin Lankinen stopped 22 of 26 shots.
“You’re not going to win every night, but if you can keep putting out a consistent product and everyone’s kind of pulling the same rope, that’s going to be what drives our ship,” Fabbro said.
Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly, signed as a free agent in the offseason, played in his 1,000th career game Tuesday. His teammates arrived at Rogers Arena wearing shirts bearing O’Reilly’s likeness and “Factor 1,000,” a nod to O’Reilly’s nickname. Several players mimicked O’Reilly’s helmet-less warmup routine.
“When I found out he was signing here, it was a great day,” said Predators defenseman Tyson Barrie, who previously played with O’Reilly in Colorado. “He’s just a really special human being, and it’s no surprise he’s gotten to 1,000 games as quickly as he has. He’ll play till the wheels fall off; they’re going to have to kick him out of the league.
“He’ll play till he’s got nothing left. He loves the game.”
The Kraken and Predators met Oct. 12 in Nashville’s home opener. Juuse Saros made 23 saves in a 3-0 shutout, the first win for coach Andrew Brunette with the Predators.
–Field Level Media
